The present invention relates to a novel and useful container raceway mechanism which is especially useful in a cannery.
The commercial canning of foods requires quick and certain movement of cans within a facility. In the past, raceways have been developed to roll or slide the cans between operations, such as filling, labeling and the like. Prior raceways consist of fixtures holding generally parallel steel rods which form a rolling chamber within the adjacent rods. Construction of such a steel raceway of this type involves rod bending tools and welding efforts. Raceway construction labor is especially acute if the rods must bent into a turn for the rolling cans. In addition, steel rods used to construct raceways for cans produce a substantial amount of noise. Further, steel rods become roughened after time and tend to mar moving cans and labels on such cans. This latter problem is especially apparent when lithographed or aluminum containers are transported on steel rod raceways. Moreover, roughened steel rods greatly increase the already substantial noise level in a cannery.
A raceway system which solves such problems encountered in the prior art would be a great advance in the food processing industry.